Realm of the Goddess

by Sabina Khan

  A loud crash came from somewhere outside and I ran to the window to see what it was. It was already dark outside, but by the light of the streetlamp I could make out the cherry trees that lined both sides of the walkway leading from Shiv’s house to the back of our school. There were cars parked along both sides of the road. I didn’t see anything unusual. It was probably a cat or a raccoon knocking over a garbage bin. I took the book and sat down on the bed. I opened the front cover. On the inside of the cover was an inscription. To Priya, you make me proud every day. Love Ma. I wondered who she was.

  I turned the pages until I came to the first chapter. “A Background on the Origin of Kali.” I already knew how Kali had been created. A yawn escaped my mouth. I needed to get some sleep, but my throat was parched. Also, my arms were beginning to throb. I decided to go downstairs to get some water and something for the pain.

  I left the room as quietly as possible. The last thing I wanted was for Shiv or his parents to panic, thinking there was an intruder in their house. I tiptoed down the stairs, went into the kitchen and turned on the light. I opened cabinet doors until I found one that held glasses. I picked a tall one and filled it with some ice water from the dispenser on the fridge. I drank the whole glass and refilled it before I started looking for some painkillers. It felt a bit weird opening drawers in someone else’s house, but the pain was getting worse and I didn’t want to wake anyone up. I finally found a drawer that held an assortment of over-the-counter medications. I rooted around until I found a bottle of ibuprofen. I took two and finished my second glass of water. I debated whether to go back up and try to sleep or to look around. Maybe I could find a computer somewhere and check up on what was happening.

  Feeling a little bit like a cat burglar, I walked as quietly as I could to the library. The sliding doors were open. I stepped inside, found the light switch and flipped it. Then I closed the doors behind me. I looked around. It was bigger than I remembered, the shelves extending all the way along the walls. Scattered throughout were small sitting areas with armchairs, recliners and the occasional ottoman, all surrounding antique-looking tables. I guessed they must spend a lot of time in here. There had to be a computer somewhere. I couldn’t see one, though. I would just have to wait until morning and ask Shiv. I walked over to one of the bookcases and looked at the thick volumes that sat fitted tightly together. They were well-worn texts, the Upanishads, books about the Trinity, and a lot of books on demonology. My eyes were beginning to feel heavy and I turned around to leave. I walked to the door, slid it open and walked right into someone. I had already turned off the light so it took me a moment to realize that it was just Shiv. He nudged me back into the library but didn’t turn the light back on.

  “What are you doing here?” he whispered, sliding the door closed.

  “I couldn’t sleep. I’m sorry, did I wake you?” I hoped his parents wouldn’t come down as well.

  “No, I thought I heard something so I came down to check.”

  I nodded and then there was an awkward pause. He stood between me and the door and I noticed that he wasn’t wearing a shirt, just some sweatpants. His skin glistened in the moonlight that sifted through the blinds. I could see the rest of his tattoos now, and they were just as I had imagined. Two serpents were coiled around his neck and wound their way down the front of his chest. There they ended just where dark curls of hair tapered down over his belly and into the waistband of his sweatpants. I caught myself just as my eyes continued to wander down. I felt blood rush to my cheeks and I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. He cleared his throat, and when I did look at him, I could see the amusement glinting in his eyes and in the twitch of his mouth.

  “I, umm, was just going back to bed,” I mumbled, squeezing past him, careful not to touch him. I was a little embarrassed at my physical reaction and I certainly did not want him to get even an inkling of what I was feeling. He barely suppressed a chuckle, following close behind.

  “Since we’re both up, do you want me to show you something?” he asked, grabbing my elbow so that I had to stop.

  “Sure...what is it?” I was going to play it cool. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had any sort of effect on me.

  “It’s this way,” he said, turning down the hallway in the opposite direction of the kitchen. I followed him until he stopped in front of a door. When he opened it I saw a set of stairs that seemed to lead down to the basement. We went down quietly until we reached the bottom. I gasped. In front of us was an immense room, more like the inside of a gym. On the walls hung various types of weapons, swords, shields and helmets. I had never seen so many different kinds of swords. I felt like I was forgetting something, but I didn’t know what.

  “This is where we train,” Shiv said, his eyes gleaming. “We have one of the best collections of ancient weapons here. Some of them are thousands of years old and have been used by the greatest warriors.”

  I believed him. I didn’t know much about weapons, but even I could tell that this was an impressive collection.

  “So what do you mean exactly by training?” Looking at Shiv in his current shirtless state, I could tell he was in great shape. That much was obvious from his bulging biceps and the way his shoulders looked like they could knock someone sideways. And the way the muscles on his chest rippled...I forced myself to look at something else, anything else. My eyes were drawn to a strange-looking weapon that looked like a sword, but the blade looked like it would be flexible, like a whip. I walked over to where it hung, a little out of my reach. I stood up on the tips of my toes to grab the handle, but I was just too short. Shiv had walked up beside me and reached across me. He grabbed the weapon off the wall effortlessly. When he brought it down his arm brushed my side and the effect was electric. I couldn’t be sure if it was the sword he was holding or his body that had this effect on me, but it was all I could do not to touch him. I had to fight the urge to run my hands over his chest and trace his tattoos wherever they went. I looked at him, but he had the same knowing smile. He clearly was not having the same reaction to me. I exerted an impressive amount of self-control and took a step back. I reached out and took the sword from him. The hilt felt cool in my hands. It wasn’t too heavy, and I swung it around a little. The top part of the blade was solid, but it parted a little further down into two flexible whip-like ribbons.

  “It’s called an urumi,” Shiv said, watching me. He put his hand on top of mine and guided my movements, smoothly, until I felt the rhythm. The blades undulated gently as I moved my wrist beneath Shiv’s hand. He stood very close and I could feel his breath in my ear as he spoke.

  “It’s used mostly by the people of Kerala. Thousands of years ago it was used in battle, but now it’s used in kalaripayattu, a type of martial art.”

  I had visited Kerala in the south of India when I was younger. I remembered the lush green tea estates and the beautiful mountain resorts we had visited. Each region in India had its own culture, cuisine and language. So it didn’t surprise me to find out that they must have their own art of warfare as well. I handed the urumi back to Shiv and moved away, trying not to let on the effect his proximity had on me.

  Suddenly I remembered something from the dream. My dad had said something about a sword. One that would destroy Mahisha. But that had just been a dream, a result of my desperate desire to find my parents. I vaguely remembered my grandmother telling me about a sword that only Kali could wield, which could destroy evil. I tried to remember the rest of the dream. My dad had said something about the two of them being safe, that Mahisha couldn’t hurt them. That didn’t make any sense. It was all in my head, but on some level I felt as though it had been real, as if my dad had been trying to communicate with me. I noticed that Shiv had stopped talking and was watching me with some amusement.

  “I’m sorry, Shiv. It’s just that...I had this strange dream. My dad was trying to tell me something and I don’t know what to think.” My shoulders fell and I felt exhausted once a
gain.

  “What did he tell you?”

  “Just that they were safe and that I shouldn’t worry about them. He also said that I have to find a sword that will destroy Mahisha.” I looked up at him, my eyes willing him to say that it wasn’t just a dream.

  “Maybe your dad is trying to communicate with you,” Shiv said. “It’s not unheard of you know, at least not in our world.”

  “But how is that even possible? My dad’s a professor, how would he even know how to do that?” A part of me couldn’t help wondering, though.

  “Look, Callie...I’m not sure how your dad fits into all of this, but I don’t think we should dismiss anything, no matter how far-fetched it might seem.” I nodded slowly. I really needed to find a computer. A bit of research might answer a lot of questions.

  “Shiv, is there a computer I could use? I really need to let my friends know that I haven’t been kidnapped and murdered. Ben already left like twenty messages.” Shiv raised an eyebrow.

  “Sure, you can use my laptop. It’s in my room. I would ask you to come there and use it, but if my mom finds us in there together, she’ll freak. Trust me, guardian or not, she’s still very old-fashioned.” I smiled as if I totally agreed that it was ridiculous, but secretly I was relieved. I didn’t really trust myself right now. If the last few hours were any indication, my brain and my body were not exactly on the same page at the moment.

  We walked up the stairs together and then Shiv went into his room while I waited outside mine. He was back in a flash and handed me his laptop. I thanked him and went in, relieved to be on my own at last. I wanted to find some information before I talked to Shiv’s parents about my dream. I didn’t like being the only one in the room who had no clue about what was going on. I sat down on the bed and put the laptop in front of me. Opening the browser, I typed in “Kali’s sword” and hit search. A whole lot of results came up. I clicked on one that seemed to be informative and began to read. Most of what the article said was already familiar to me from my grandmother’s stories. I went back to the results page and clicked on another link. Still nothing new. I went through several links and had almost given up when something caught my eye. Priestesses of Kali. I’d never heard of that before. I continued to read.

  The Priestesses of Kali are part of a clandestine group of female devotees of the Goddess Kali. There is evidence to support that they have been around for thousands of years. Rumors of their powers have circulated for millennia. It is believed that the original priestesses were entrusted by Kali herself to safeguard her sword in the event of her failure to destroy Mahisha. Archeologists have tried for centuries, without success, to find where the Sword of Kali may have been hidden.

  The article went on to talk about possible locations of the sword, ranging from the jungles of Kolkata to caves buried in the snow-capped mountains of Mongolia. There were some who believed it had traveled to Greece during the invasion of India by Alexander the Great. I closed the webpage after a while. I would have to talk to Shiv’s parents in the morning and see if they knew anything more about the sword and its possible location. I couldn’t believe I was sitting here and contemplating the chances of getting my hand on a five-thousand-year-old sword that had once belonged to the Goddess of Destruction herself. Life was funny that way.

  I turned my attention to something else that had been nagging at me: the fact that my dad had come to me in my dream and actually talked to me was strange. And I knew all about strange dreams. But this was different. He had tried to communicate with me and it had seemed so real, not like any other dream I’d had before. It was as if he’d known I’d be frantic with worry about them and he needed to tell me what to do next. I sat up straight and typed “dream manipulation” in the search box. A bunch of results came up. How to Control your Dreams. Download an App for Dream Manipulation. So it was true. There really was an app for everything. I cleared the search box and typed in “Dream Manipulators, Hindu mythology.” Not a lot of results came up, but once again one of them caught my eye. Oneiric manipulation. I clicked on the link.

  Oneiric manipulators possess the power to enter someone’s dream and take control. They can influence thoughts and actions, even during waking hours, by planting the seed of an idea or thought in their minds. They are also able to communicate with a person but at great cost to themselves. A successful communication requires the manipulator to drain his own strength. As a result he is weakened and cannot repeat this activity until energy has been replenished.

  I stared at the screen for a while. Could my dad have such an ability? It was amazing how the realm of what was possible had expanded exponentially for me in the last couple of days. This seemed as good an explanation as any. How else would my dad know exactly what I was thinking and be able to tell me how to proceed? With a sigh I picked up the laptop and put it on the desk. I needed to get some sleep, even if it was only for a few hours. The clock on the nightstand said it was 3:30 a.m. I fell back on the bed and was asleep within minutes.

  I awoke the next morning feeling optimistic. The dream about my father had given me hope. Firstly, I was now convinced that my father had in fact been communicating with me and I felt a sense of relief knowing that my parents were alive and relatively unharmed, at least for the moment. Secondly, I felt that Shiv’s parents might have more information about the sword my father had mentioned. Once I knew its last known location, I might have a shot at rescuing my parents after all. This motivated me enough to get me ready and downstairs with a positive attitude, which must have shown on my face, because Nina noticed it right away. They were all sitting at the breakfast table in the kitchen. The big bay window looked out on a sunny yard.

  “Callie, you look rested,” she said cheerfully. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

  Over a breakfast of eggs, toast and fresh fruit, I told them about my dream. They didn’t seem too surprised. Dev was already nodding as I finished.

  “It’s not unheard of that some Rakshakari have powers of oneiric manipulation,” he said.

  “But my father is not a guardian,” I said, a strange realization blossoming in my stomach. “He’s a professor,” I finished weakly.

  “Callie, I can assure you that ordinary humans do not possess such powers. However, there are Rakshakari who have forsaken the call and chosen to live normal lives. Their powers diminish but are never truly lost.”

  I said nothing for a while. I tried to think back and remember if there were any clues, any signs I had missed. It was strange trying to look at my life and realize that there might have been so much I didn’t know, so many things about my parents that they had kept from me. I thought about snatches of conversations from when I was younger, too young to understand their significance. I’d walk in on them and they would abruptly stop talking. I had probably been too self-absorbed to think anything of it at the time, but now I desperately wished I had paid more attention. Maybe I would have learned something that could have helped me now. I must have sighed or something, because Dev looked at me sympathetically.

  “Callie, beti, you mustn’t blame yourself. None of this is your fault.”

  Nina nodded in agreement as she buttered a piece of toast. “Callie,” she said, “if your parents kept any of this from you, it was only to protect you. I’m sure they had their reasons.”

  I knew they were trying to make me feel better, but I couldn’t help the tiny worm of resentment that was making its way into my mind. I was seventeen years old, for goodness sake, not a child. I could have handled whatever dark secrets they were hiding. They should have had more faith in me. Now here I was, completely in the dark, having to rely on strangers whom I felt forced to trust.

  I bit into a piece of toast that Nina had put on my plate next to the scrambled eggs. I didn’t want to be rude, so I just nodded politely.

  “Shiv,” Nina said, taking a sip of her coffee, “why don’t you show Callie around and then this afternoon we are going to meet with Vikram.”

  I looked
around the table. “Who’s Vikram?”

  “He’s the head of the Council for the West Coast,” Dev replied. “We went to see him yesterday to apprise him of the situation, and he is eager to meet you.”

  “Wait...you mean there are more of you?” I said. I regretted it as soon as I said it, because Nina raised her eyebrows slightly before replying.

  “Yes, Callie, there are more of us. In fact, we have centers all around the world. We train our Rakshakari and warriors there. They are also taught all about the history of the Council.”

  She shot Shiv a glance. “Shiv, perhaps while you are showing Callie around, why don’t you fill her in a little bit? That way she’ll be prepared before we meet with Vikram.”

  She excused herself and left the kitchen. Dev finished his coffee and left too, leaving me alone with Shiv.

  “Did I offend your mother in some way?” I asked as soon as we were alone.

  Shiv, who had been uncharacteristically quiet throughout breakfast, just shrugged. “Don’t worry about her,” he said, putting down his glass of orange juice. “She just feels responsible for you, and maybe the rest of the Council isn’t too happy with how things were handled with you and your parents.”

  “Handled?” I said, annoyance tinging my voice. “What exactly is that supposed to mean? If they knew that something like that would happen, why didn’t they say something?”

  Shiv looked at me and there was something in his eyes that I couldn’t define.

  “Why don’t we go to the library and I can fill you in on what I can about the Council,” he said, getting up without waiting for an answer and taking his plate and mug to the sink. I noticed that he had conveniently chosen not to respond to my previous comment. I decided not to push it. I got up and cleared some of the breakfast dishes as well.

  We went to the library and settled in the seating area by the windows. Shiv was holding a thick bound volume of some kind, which he now gave to me.